Attachment for carton-making machines.



3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WH m N W W PATENTBD MAR. 2-7, 1906-.

N. SUNDBRMAN. ATTACHMENT TCR CARTON MAKING MACHINES. APPLIOATIQN FILEDMARA@l 1905.

R. SUNDERMAN.

PATENTBD MAR. 27, 1906.

ATTACHMENT FOR CARTON MAKING MACHINES.

wmvfsss.-

APPLICATION FILED MAR.14. 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

ATTHNEYS PATENTED MAR. 27, 1906. R. SUNDBRMAN. ATTACHMENT FOR CARTONMAKING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.14.1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3A ArroR/vfrs l fed into the machine.

RICHARD SUNDERMAN, OF BUFFALO, NEl/V YORK.

ATTACHMENT FOR CARTON-MAKING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 27, 1906.

Application filed March 14, 1905. Serial No. 250,010.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that l, RICHARD SUNDERMAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York,have invented a new and lmproved Attachment for Carton-Making Machines,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to carton-making machines and admits of generaluse, but is of peculiar service in connection with machines of the kinddescribed in mypendingapplication, Serial No. 214,159, filed June 25,1904.

My present invention embodies several objects, one of which is toslightly open the carton-blank immediately after the same is fed intothe machine-that is to say, where carton-blanks are fed into a machinefor the purpose of being formed into complete cartons, and especiallywhere they are to be filled- While in the same machine itis desirablethat some means be provided for opening the carton-blanks. My inventionembraces certain other objects and mechanical details for fulfilling thesame, as hereinafter described.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.l

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a carton-machine equlpped with myinvention. Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view somewhat similar to Fig. 1,but enlar ed and showing certain parts occupying a re atively differentposition. Fig. 3 is a side elevation otherwise similar to Fig. 1 anddrawn upon the same scale as said figure. Fig. 4 is a detail elevationof the plun er. Fig. 5 is a somewhat similar detail of t e plunger, butshowing the same as viewed at a right angle to the view shown in Fig. 4.Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation of one of the carton-blanks ready tobe Fig. 7 is a vertical detail section through the lower end of acartonblank, the same being opened for the point of the plunger; andFig. 8 is a sectional view of the sleeve 35.

The general framework of the machine is shown at 8, and at 9 is a chutefor feeding the group 10 of carton-blanks into the machine. A slide 11is disposed obli uely to the general direction of the framewor and isadapted to i convey into the machine the individual carton-blanks 10a,acting substantially as described in my pending application, abovereferred to. Guide-rai s 13 are separated by a clearance-space 12, intowhich the cartonblanks are'thus fed. Extending practically across thisclearance-space is a standard 14, against which each separate blank 1()alodges, as indicated in Fig. 1.

The machine is provided with a sprocketchain 15, having movable flights16, mounted thereupon, the chain engaging a sprocket- Wheel 17, and witha guide 18, connected with the frame-work 8 by means of a brace 18a, asindicated in Fig. 1. A dog 19 is connected rigidly with a rocking shaft20, the latter being connected by a crank 21 and a cam-rod 22 with ahead 23, which slidably engages a bearing 24. .A cam 25 is rigidlyconnected with a shaft 26, upon which the sprocket-wheel 17 is likewiserigidly mounted. Cranks 27 27 a are rigidly mounted upon opposite endsof the shaft 26 and are pivotally connected by pitmen 28 29 with theslide 11, which has an extension 30. The rotation of the shaft 26 notonly causes the slide 11 to'reciprocate, and thus feed the individualblanks 1()al one at a time, as above stated, but after each blank isthus fed in the dog 19 grips the edge of the blank, and thus squeezesthe latter edgewise. (See Fig. 2.) For this purpose the cam 25 raisesthe head 23 in the general direction of its length and causes thecrank-arm 21 to rock. The carton-blank being locked against the standard14 is unable to move any farther in the general direction of its travelobliquely downward, so that the standard 14 serves as a limiting-stopand enables the dog 19 to be effective. Another cam 31 is mountedrigidly upon the shaft 26 and engages an arm 32, so as to lift the sameat intervals. This arm is pivoted at 33, carries a spring 33a, and ispnovided with a spring portion 34, which eX- tends obliquely upward, asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2.

Centrally disposed at the bottom of the framework is a tube 35,providedy with a slot' 35a, and within this tube is a plunger 36,provided with oppositely-disposed faces 37 of the shape indicated inFigs. 4 and 5.l The plunger 36 is connected, by means of a pivot 38,with an arm 39, the outer end of which is provided with a slot 40,working loosely upon the pivot 38. Another arm 41 is rigidly connectedwith the arm 39, the two arms virtually constituting a bell-crank lever.The arm 41 is provided at its upper end with a roller 42 and isconnected by a spiral spring 43 with a boss 44. The tendency of the IOOIOS

I IO

ist y stems spring 43 is to maintain the arm 41 in an oblique osition,as indicated in Fig. 3, so that the p unger 36 is normally in itslowermost position. A cam 45 is mounted rigidly upon one end of a shaft46, this shaft being revolubly mounted within a bearing 47 and providedwith a bevel-gear 48, -which engages another bevel-gear 49 for thepurpose of actuatinor thegluing machinery described in my ro pen ingapplication.

.-One of the individual carton-blanks aL is shown in Fig. 6 and isprovided with a body portion 50, having an indenture 51, the indenturebeing made by simply cutting out a i5 semicircle of the cardboardmaterialv of which the carton-blank is made. The blank is split at 52,so that its top and bottom portions are formed into flaps 53 54. Whenready for use, Y the carton-blank is in the form indicated in o thisfigure and may be considered as a rectangular member which has beenrendered iiatby a pressure diagonally across it. (See 10?, Fig. 2.)

The arms 39 41 are mounted upon a rockz 5 ing shaft 55, supported byhangers 56, as indicated in Fig. 3. Another rocking shaft 57 is providedwith a stud 58, carrying a roller 59. The shaft 57 is provided with anarm 60, extending laterally therefrom, and this arm 3o is connected byalink 61 with another arm 62, t-he latter being rigidly mounted upon arocking shaft 63. By means of a spiral spring 64 this shaft 63 isnormally held in a predetermined position. Extending laterally 3 5 fromthe shaft is a curved arm 65, which projects into the space 12. This arm65 is curved slightly, as indicated in Fig. 3. The connection of thepitmen 28 29 with the slide 11 is madeI by means of bosses 28a, asindicated in said figure. Mounted upon the shaft 57 are spring-arms 66,which move upward periodically. The shaft 57 is rocked by means of thestud 58, which is in turn'actuated by means of a cam 26a on the shaft26.

Spreaders 67 are employed for the purpose of bending the flaps 53outwardly after the carton-blank is opened, and a surface 68 is sodisposed as to bend Vone of the flaps inward, thereby assisting informing the bottom of 5o the carton.

My invention is used as follows: Power being ap lied to the srocket-chain and other movab e parts, the s aft 26 rotates in adirection contraclockwise, as seen in Fig. 1. As

5 each carton-blank 10a moves into engagement with the standard 14 andis squeezed edgewise by the dog 19, as above described, the indenture 51at the lower edge of the carton lodges directly against the lunger 36,

y6o comparatively near the sharp e ge thereof, as indicated in Fig. 7.The spring-arm 32 is at different instances released by thecam 31, asindicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and its portion '34 is thus causedto press laterally L6 5 against the lower edge of the carton, so as tolead the same into a favorable posit-ion for allowing the plunger 36 toascend into the carton-b ank. The revolution of the cani-f4.5 nextraises the arm 39 and forces the plunger up into the lower end of theblank, soas-v to spread the same considerably, as indicated in Fig. 2.During the time while the plunger is thus rising the dog 19 continues topress edgewise upon the carton-blank, so that the latter vis wideneduntil it extends completely across the space 12. A moment later,however,the cam 25 having turned slightly so as to release the head 23,the dog 19 is free to swing back out of the way.v The continuedrevolution of the cam 45 causes the plunger 36 to drop back into itsnormal position. The revolution of the cam 26al causes the stud 58 torock outward, thus raising the arm 6() and causing the spring-arm tomove abruptly downward. T is movement does not occur until after thecarton has been fully opened and started'upon its way, being engaged forthis purpose by one of the flights 16. The cartonblank having moved alittle to the left of the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3,9o the upper flaps 53 are spread forward and backward by the downstrokeof the springarm 65. Before leaving the position indicated by dottedlines in this figure the springarm 60 makes its stroke upward, however,95 and bends any one of the flaps 54. Another of these flaps is bentinward by contact with the surface 68, whereas the spreaders 67 causetwo upper fla s 53 to bend outward, as abo've y described. do Anot limitmyself, however, loo to the particularmeans shown for manipulating theflaps, nor does the'present invention contemplate a complete manufactureand Jiilling of the carton-blank. What I seek more articularly to do atthis time is to provide fldr opening the carton-blank by means of thelunger 36, which preferably moves upwardly from the bottom.

Referring to the section shown in Fig. 7 and to the view indicated bydotted lines in Fig. 3, it will be seen that the oppositely-disposedfaces 37 of the plunger 36 gradually approach each other at-.the pointof the plunger, so as to render the same very sharp. It will also beseen that the spring-arm 34 in pressing laterally against the sharppoint of the plunger so that the indenture 51 passes loosely over thepoint, causes the extreme lower ede of the carton-blank to open slightlybefore t e plunger begins to rise, so that when the plunger is forcedupward the continued opening of the carton is effectedy by a positivemotion. The opening of the cartony is instantaneous, being acceleratedby the engagement of a fli ht 16 with one of its edges, this flight andt e dog 19 traveling toward each other. By the time the carton-blank 1sopened sufiicientlyto prevent contact between it and the. plunger thelatter lsrsuddenly retracted, but the carton now' frictionally engagesthe rails 13 and is moved along by the flight. The several successive oerations of closing and gluing the flaps and lling the carton form nopart of my present invention.

Having thus described my invention, l claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. The combination of a guideway through whichcarton-blanks are adapted to travel, means for passing a carton-blankthrough said guideway, means for exerting pressure uponoppositely-disposed port-ions .of said carton-blank, a plunger to beforced into said carton-blank for the purpose of opening the same, andmeans for actuating said plunger.

2. The combination of a frame provided with a passage-way, a plungersupported by said frame and adapted to move into said passage-way, meansfor actuating said plunger, mechanism for passing a carton-blank intosaid passage-way and into alinement with said-plunger, and means forexerting pressure progressively upon opposite portions of saidcarton-blank in order to facilitate the entrance of the plungerthereinto.

3. The combination of a frame provided with a passage-way, a chutedisposed adjacent to said frame for feeding carton-blanks into saidpassage-way, a slide coacting with said chute for delivering saidcarton-blanks into said passage-wav one at a time., means for squeezingeach canon-blank edgewise after it enters into said passage-way, aplunger for partially entering each carton-blank so as to distend thesame, and means for actuating said plunger.

4. The combination of a frame provided with a passage-way, means forfeeding into said passage-waycarton-blanks one at a time. a standardextending into said passage-way and serving as a limiting-stop for eachcartonblank, a movable dog for gripping one end of said carton-blank andforcing the same toward said standard so as to exert pressure edgewiseupon said carton-blank, a plunger disposed adiacent to said carton-blankand in alinement with the position thereof when said plunger is incontact with said limitingstop, and means for actuating said plunger S0as to partially open said carton-blank.

5. The combination of means for exerting pressure edgewise upon acarton-blank, a member movable relatively to said cartonblank andadapted to be inserted thereinto for the purpose of opening saidcarton-blank, and mechanism for actuating said member.

6. The combination of means for exerting pressure upon the edges of acarton-blank so als to distend the same, a plunger provided with a sharppoint and disposed substantially in al'i'nement with said cartonblank,means for forcing said plunger into said carton-blank, and automaticmechanism for withdrawing said plunger.

7. The combination of means for exerting pressure upon the edges of acarton-blank so as to open the same, a movable member to be forcedagainst said carton-blank so as to bend outwardly certain flaps thereof,another member movable relatively to said carton foil closing anotherflap thereof, means for actuating both of said last-mentioned members, aplunger to be forced into said carton-blank so as to assist indistending the same, and means for actuating said plunger. v

8. The combination of a limiting-stop, means for feeding a carton-blankthereagainst, a dog for engaging the free edge of said carton-blank andforcing the same toward said limiting-stop, thereby exerting pressureedgewise upon said carton-blank, a plunger provided with a sharp pointand disposed in alinement with said carton-blank, and cam controlledmechanism for causing said plunger to reciprocate.

9. The combination of framework provided with a passage-way, means forforcing carton-blanks one at a time through said passage-way, a memberdisposed adjacent to said passage-way and adapted to move relatively tosaid carton-blanks for the purpose of bending the flaps thereofoutwardly, and a cam coacting with the movements of said blank foractuating the movements of said member.

10. The combination of means for holding a carton-blank, a plungerdisposed substan' tially in alinement with said carton-blank, means forreciprocating said plunger in the general direction of said carton-blankfor the purpose of opening the latter, a spring-arm movable relativelyto said plunger and adapted to press a portion of said carton-blank intoengagement therewith, and cam mechanism for moving said spring-arm intoand out of engagement with said carton-blank.

1l. The combination of means for holding a carton-blank, a plungerprovided with a comparatively sharp point to be inserted within saidcarton -blanli, means for automatically actuating said plungerrelatively to said carton-blank, and a swinging arm provided with aspring portion for engaging the exterior of said carton-blank for thepurpose of assisting said plunger to enter the same.

12. The combination of mechanism for feeding carton-blanks one at atime, means for momentarily holding eacli blank after being thus fed, aplunger provided with a sharp point for entering the carton-blank anddistending the same, an arili connected with said plunger foractuatingthe same, mechanism connected with said, arm for retractingsaid plunger, and a movable ymember for pressing momentarily againstsaid cartonblank so as to guide said plunger theremto.

13. The combination of means for holding a carton-blank, a plungerdisposed in ahnement with said carton-blank when thus held,

mechanism for forcing said plunger partially into said carton-blank forthe purpose of distending the same, means for squeezing saidcarton-blank edgewise while said plunge'. makes its thrust, a movablemember provided with a portion for pressing the portion of saidcarton-blank directly against said plunger, and means for actuating saidmovable member. y

14. 'The combination of a carton-blank, a plunger to be forced thereintofor opening the same, a swinging arm provided with a portion for gentlypressing a partv of said carton-blank against said plunger in order tofacilitate the insertion of said plunger into said carton-blank, andmeans for actuating said Swingin arm.

15. T e combination of means .for` holding a carton-blank, a plunger tobe inserted within said carton-blank for the purpose of opening thesame, mechanism' provided with a movable member for forcing a part ofsaid cart-om blank laterally against said plunger so as to dispose saidcarton-blank favorably for the action ofsaid plunger, means foractuatin` said plunger, and means for squeezing sai sleeve cartoneblankledgewise While said plunger is being inserted thereinto.

16. The combination of a framework provided with a passage-way, alunge': mounted upon said framework an movable relatively thereto, meansfor passing -a cartonblank into said assage-Way and into alinement withsaid p unger, mechanism for holding said carton-blank in fixed position,and a member provided with a spring portion for pressing upon theexterior of said cartonblank in order to facilitate the entrance of saidplunger into said carton-blank.

17. The combination of a f'.'a-mework provided with a passage-way, meansfor pass-in the carton-blank into `said assage-Way, and members mountedopposite y and adapted to exert pressure upon the edges of saidcartonblank for the purpose of distending the same.

In testimony whereof l have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

p RICHARD SUNDERMAN.

Witnesses: 1

WILLIAM A. MrNoTT, J. F. CHUMAsERo.

